We thought it would be great to see which of the Kindle ebooks available on Amazon since November 2007 were the ones book lovers appreciated the most.

That’s why we decided to process data widely available for users of the Kindle Store and put the results into rankings that show the most popular books and authors.

This post includes extensive charts and comparisons, together with information how we collected and processed the data. Be assured to see detailed lists soon, accompanied by infographics and visualizations. Stay tuned!

Two authors – David Baldacci and Lee Child – managed to place their books on all annual Kindle bestseller lists since 2007.

The best Kindle author of all time is James Patterson, with 10 books in the Top 100.

Best Kindle books – how the lists were made

Background

So far, Amazon has not revealed a ranking of best or best selling Kindle books of all time. However, the company provides valuable tools for comparison. Besides bestseller lists (both current and annual), weekly charts or Amazon Best Sellers Rank, there are also such factors as customer reviews and ratings.

We are a group of ebook enthusiasts and don’t have access to Amazon’s sales figures and advanced algorithms. Our lists are based on information available for anyone visiting Amazon website.

Obviously, the easiest way to create a ranking of best Kindle books of all time would be to pick up #1 title for each year between 2007 and 2017 and publish a list of ten winning books.

We believe, however, that being a one-time bestseller doesn’t represent the real value of the book. A book becomes a classic when it has the power to lure new readers constantly, and its popularity doesn’t fade out with time.

That’s why we’ve decided to go with a more advanced methodology.

Methodology

The idea to rank best Kindle books of all time is quite simple: every book on the annual list of top 100 bestsellers earns points. The higher the book is ranked, the more points it gets.

So, the #1 book on the annual list gets 100 points, and the last title gets 1 point.

Here are a few other rules:

if a book is present on more than one annual list, its points are added,

if two or more books receive the same number of points, they are ranked at the same place in the Top 100. We decided to keep things clear and give a chance for more books to appear on the ultimate list rather than apply the second-level rule,

Example
A book becomes #1 Kindle bestseller but is present on only one annual bestseller list. It gets 100 points in total. Another book is ranked #50 for two years. It earns 51 points for each year, what makes 102 points in total.

As you, see, the counting method we chose is favoring books that managed to stay on annual Kindle bestseller lists for as long as possible and as high as possible.

Data for annual Top 100 lists for 2007-2016 was gathered between July 25 and August 28, 2017. Data for the 2017 list was collected on November 19, 2017.

Please keep in mind that reviews of the single title are collected from several formats (paperback, hardcover, Kindle, audiobook, etc.) as well as several editions, also the ones that are not available in the Kindle Store any longer.

Top 100 best Kindle books of all time

We are excited to present the major ranking of the best Kindle books of all time. It includes the greatest titles released in Kindle edition between 2007 and 2017.

It’s worth noting that the total number of annual bestseller lists that we analyzed is not ten but eleven, as we also included the 2007 list.

The Top 100 chart includes the best books (it’s more than 100, due to the counting method we used), out of 901 titles that ever entered an annual Kindle bestseller list since November 2007.

Details you can compare in the ranking are:

# – a position of the book in Top 100,

Points – a total number of points collected,

Title (series) – a title of the book and a name of the series it belongs to,

Author – an author or authors of the book,

Rating – an average rating,

Reviews – a total number of reviews,

Category – a primary category the book is ranked in.

There is one thing we’d like to point out. It refers to a total number of reviews for books that belong to a series.

In case of some series, for instance, the Millennium saga by Stieg Larsson, reviews are split into parts. It’s the natural way to do it. Some books in a series are better; some are worse. It would inevitably be reflected in the number of reviews as well as the average rating.

For other series, however, the reviews are combined – all books come with the total number of reviews left for any part of the trilogy. The Hunger Games is the most noticeable example of such review count policy.

2. Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Total number of points: 429First year in Top 100: 2010Last year in Top 100: 2015Highest place: 6 (2011)Lowest place: 26 (2012)Number of years in Top 100: 5Number of years in Top 10: 2

A story of an Army Air Forces bombardier Louis Zamperini, who, after his plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean in 1943, was fighting to survive on a foundering life raft. ⇢ Read more.

3. Mockingjay

Author: Suzanne Collins

Part of the series: Yes, book 3 of the Hunger Games seriesMain Category: Teen & Young AdultNumber of reviews: 56,410Average rating: 4.60Publication Date: August 24, 2010Kindle Unlimited: Yes

Total number of points: 383First year in Top 100: 2010Last year in Top 100: 2014Highest place: 4 (2011)Lowest place: 78 (2014)Number of years in Top 100: 5Number of years in Top 10: 2

The final book in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins will have hearts racing, pages turning, and everyone talking about one of the biggest and most talked-about books and authors in recent publishing history. ⇢ Read more.

4. Gone Girl

Total number of points: 379First year in Top 100: 2012Last year in Top 100: 2015Highest place: 2 (2014)Lowest place: 15 (2015)Number of years in Top 100: 4Number of years in Top 10: 3

One of the most critically acclaimed suspense writers of our time, New York Times bestseller Gillian Flynn takes that statement to its darkest place in this unputdownable masterpiece about a marriage gone terribly, terribly wrong. ⇢ Read more.

5. The Help

Total number of points: 376First year in Top 100: 2009Last year in Top 100: 2012Highest place: 1 (2011)Lowest place: 18 (2012)Number of years in Top 100: 4Number of years in Top 10: 3

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women – mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends – view one another. ⇢ Read more.

6. The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne CollinsPart of the series: Yes, book 1 of the Hunger Games seriesMain Category: Teen & Young AdultNumber of reviews: 56,410Average rating: 4.60Publication Date: September 1, 2009Kindle Unlimited: Yes

Total number of points: 354First year in Top 100: 2010Last year in Top 100: 2017Highest place: 2 (2011, 2012)Lowest place: 93 (2017)Number of years in Top 100: 5Number of years in Top 10: 3

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem. The Capitol keeps the districts in line by forcing them to send teenagers to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. ⇢ Read more.

7. Catching Fire

Author: Suzanne CollinsPart of the series: Yes, book 2 of the Hunger Games seriesMain Category: Teen & Young AdultNumber of reviews: 56,410Average rating: 4.60Publication Date: June 1, 2010Kindle Unlimited: Yes

Total number of points: 353First year in Top 100: 2010Last year in Top 100: 2013Highest place: 3 (2011, 2012)Lowest place: 26Number of years in Top 100: 4Number of years in Top 10: 2

Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has won the annual Hunger Games with fellow district tribute Peeta Mellark. But it was a victory won by defiance of the Capitol and their harsh rules. The Capitol wants revenge. ⇢ Read more.

Total number of points: 328First year in Top 100: 2009Last year in Top 100: 2012Highest place: 3 (2010)Lowest place: 31 (2012)Number of years in Top 100: 4Number of years in Top 10: 1

Part blistering espionage thriller, part riveting police procedural, and part piercing exposé on social injustice, this second book in the Millennium series is a masterful, endlessly satisfying novel. ⇢ Read more.

9. Water for Elephants

Total number of points: 323First year in Top 100: 2007Last year in Top 100: 2012Highest place: 11 (2011)Lowest place: 65 (2012)Number of years in Top 100: 5Number of years in Top 10: 0

Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski’s ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. ⇢ Read more.

10. Divergent

Author: Veronica RothPart of the series: Yes, book 1 of the Divergent seriesMain Category: Teen & Young AdultNumber of reviews: 36,367Average rating: 4.50Publication Date: May 3, 2011Kindle Unlimited: No

Total number of points: 285First year in Top 100: 2012Last year in Top 100: 2015Highest place: 2 (2013)Lowest place: 77 (2015)Number of years in Top 100: 4Number of years in Top 10: 2

The first book in Veronica Roth’s bestselling Divergent trilogy is the gripping story of a dystopian world transformed by courage, self-sacrifice, and love. ⇢ Read more.

Best Kindle Unlimited books of all time

Many Kindle users consider getting Kindle Unlimited subscription, and most of them try to find out how many bestsellers are available via Amazon’s popular ebook subscription service.

Kindle Unlimited is growing fast – and it starts to affect Kindle bestseller lists. Most subscribers are only reading what’s available in the service, and don’t get interested in Kindle books that have to be bought separately.

Best Kindle authors of all time

Let’s now take a look at the chart putting together most popular Kindle authors. It is an excellent material for analysis.

Five authors (James Patterson, Lee Child, David Baldacci, Nicholas Sparks and Michael Connelly) were present on annual Kindle bestseller lists for at least ten years.

Other big names in publishing, naming only J.K. Rowling, would easily join the club if they had decided to release their books in Kindle edition soon enough.

The chart also shows authors’ working style and attitude. James Patterson wins thanks to being a prolific writer. As much as 46 of books he had written or co-written landed on annual bestseller lists. 10 of them made it to the all-time Top 100.

Suzanne Collins is on the opposite side of the landscape. She published three books from the Hunger Games series, plus a bundle collecting them in a single edition. All four publications were ranked very high on annual lists. And 100% of them landed in the main ranking of Top 100 Kindle books of all time.

Details you can compare in the ranking are:

# – a position of the author, based on the number of points collected,

Points – a total number of points collected,

Books in Top 100 – a total number of author’s books in the Top 100 ranking of Kindle books,

Books on annual lists – a total number of author’s books on annual lists of Kindle bestsellers for years 2007-2017,

Years on annual lists – how many years author’s books were present on annual lists of Kindle bestsellers for years 2007-2017.

Here are the rules for the ranking of the best Kindle authors of all time:

if two or more authors get the same number of points, they are ranked at the same position in the Top 100. It means the list includes more than 100 authors,

books co-written by authors are added to their total score,

co-authors (naming only writers who work with James Patterson) are listed separately.

Best Kindle books of all time by category

After putting together the books and authors, it’s time for a more general comparison.

Let’s take a look at the table comparing categories.

How we attached categories to single titles? As you know, most books on Amazon appear in more than one category.

To pick up the most representative genre, we used Amazon Best Sellers Rank. It shows how well the book is selling compared to other titles in the same category.

Amazon Best Sellers Rank is shown on a book page, in “Product details” section. With only few exceptions, we were picking up the first child category in the directory: “Kindle Store » Kindle eBooks » …”

Best Kindle books of all time: categories

Data collected between July 25 and November 19, 2017.

Category

% in Top 100

Literature & Fiction

37.25%

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

28.24%

Teen & Young Adult

9.41%

Biographies & Memoirs

7.45%

Science Fiction & Fantasy

5.10%

Romance

3.53%

Nonfiction

2.75%

History

2.35%

Humor & Entertainment

1.57%

Religion & Spirituality

1.18%

Health, Fitness & Dieting

0.78%

Reference

0.78%

Other categories

1.95%

The last thing we would like to share is two lists of top Kindle books released between 2007 and 2017 that filter books by type. First one shows top 10 fiction books, the other one puts together nonfiction titles.

The list of fiction books is very similar to what you see in the overall ranking. It’s worth taking a look at the list of nonfiction books, as they are spread across the main ranking.

A column #/100 shows a position on the main list of top 100 Kindle books of all time.

Honorable mentions

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